The phenomenal effects of Fasting in our body | VR Healthy Ageing

The phenomenal effects of Fasting in our body

The whole concept of the body storing fat for use in times of need is defeated when we actually never fast. Nature has already built a fast inside our system and it's when we sleep. The problem is our sleep cycles are becoming shorter and more uncertain. During ancient times, as darkness descended, it was sleep time and sunrise was when we woke up. But now we sleep late and even have a bedtime snack which is supposed to let us sleep better. The fasting period is greatly reduced. And the consequences are aptly clear. We have more overweight and obesity, profound inflammation, heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension and you name it…it all comes down to our eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and irregular circadian rhythms. 

In effect therefore, whatever fat we have stored for those lean times never comes, we are constantly eating sometimes 6-8 times a day including in between meals snacks and a lot of sugar which our body is not designed to handle. As a consequence, our insulin level is constantly high. Because that's the job of insulin. To immediately come in when we eat to turn the food to energy and store the excess as fat. Insulin is a fat storing hormone and in its presence, we cannot use the stored fat for energy. Constantly storing fat leads to obesity and a myriad of diseases.

The effects of fasting in our body are so profound and it was not known until fairly recently that it can even help reverse a number of diseases. The reason is when we fast, we give our body a chance to heal. It can shift its focus from food to other things. And as we fast, the body not only then starts using the stored fat as energy, it also starts recycling damaged cells and mitochondria by using them as energy also. Then when we eat again, these cells and mitochondria get replaced by new ones.So in effect, we are renewing our body, building new cells and regenerating cells inside our brain which helps in preventing diseases like memory loss and dementia, using fat as energy produces ketones which are a more stable form and a much cleaner fuel which bring down your food cravings and help you stay more alert and energetic while going longer periods without eating. And then we have this concept of Autophagy which is gaining more and more recognition in the field of disease reversal. It has been shown to help eliminate cancer from the body when done for longer periods, of course care must be taken to replenish the body with certain essential vitamins and minerals which can cause complications when we lose water as a consequence of fasting. For example we must take care to replenish sodium and potassium salts while we go for prolonged fasts. It is best to do it under the guidance of a healthcare professional. 

However we put it, the effects of fasting are truly phenomenal and profound. Intermittent fasting is the best way to begin where we aim to  reduce our feeding window to a 16-8 or 14-10 hour where we are fasting for 16 or 14 hours and eating window is 8 or 10 hours to begin with where we are having 2 meals without any snacks in between. The last meal before bedtime must be at least 3 hours before sleep and to begin, breakfast may be the easiest meal to skip. The two meals we are having must include whole foods and can include some good fat like grass fed ghee or butter. Taking some green tea of black coffee with MCT oil in the morning will increase the production of ketones and let you shrink your eating window more easily by reducing the cravings which actually will disappear within 3-8 days depending on your body type, age and your glucose dependency among some other factors like genetics.

Vibhuti Misra  

Holistic Health Specialist

+91 813 088 2160